Regina Police Service increase staff for mental health support team

globalnews.ca 09 Sep 2017 at 17:50

Canada

In 2016 the team evaluated 980 case files, of these files the team successfully intervened and assessed 334 people who required crisis intervention.

This was while PACT was available five days a week for nine hours a day, but now they have doubled workers adding another two-person team. This has upped availability to seven days a week, 12 hours a day.

“I’m most proud of what PACT does in the community. We have genuine police members that are really concerned about the health and welfare of those that we deal with, and the mental health partner that brings that expertise and that care and concern as well,” Regina Police Service acting inspector John Walker said.

The team aims to give direct access to mental health and addictions services by connecting vulnerable people to existing resources. Eighty-three per cent of clients who go this intervention were able to get the help they needed.

“Patients enter our system through what we might call the wrong door, being criminalized or ending up that they get calls from police when really what they need is a mental health intervention so the goal of pact was to really engage with those people and try to get them to the right place,” PACT program manager Sara Johnson said.

Walker hopes to see the program continue to grow.

“I think that we have touched the tip of where we need to be with pact, and I still think there needs to be some growth and development with it, because mental health issues are a constant concern,” Walker said.

Currently, PACT consists of a full time mental health professional and a police officer. It’s a partnership between the Regina Police Service RPS and Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region RQHR . Their goal...

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